1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for mooring a water craft. Particularly, the invention relates to a mooring assembly for water craft configured to provide a single point contact engagement between a hook portion and a buoy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the operation of small boats, it is frequently necessary to moor the boat away from the dock usually by attaching a mooring line to a buoy having a mooring ring. Since the ring or hoop carried by the buoy may be several feet beyond the reach of the boat operator, considerable difficulty is often encountered in securing the clip on the end of a mooring line to the mooring buoy and in inclement weather a certain degree of danger may be involved. Similar difficulties are encountered in disengaging the mooring line and in rough weather the difficulties may be sufficient to require the cutting of the mooring line rather than the disengagement of the line from the buoy.
Despite these difficulties and attendant occasional hazards, it is the general practice to attach a clip on the end of a mooring line to the ring of a mooring buoy by manually bringing the parts together. Alternately, the mooring line may be threaded through the loop on the mooring buoy and secured with a knot. In either case the actions required are awkward, difficult and occasionally dangerous.
Reaching the buoy to tie the mooring line can be difficult. In the case of the dock rail, at least two persons are usually necessary; one person jumps onto the dock to tie the mooring line while another remains aboard to pilot the boat. One person pilots the boat while the second reaches down for the buoy and pulls it up to tie the line. If the buoy cannot be pulled up, due to factors such as its weight or tension in its anchor line, the second person must reach down to the buoy while tying the line.
These procedures can present real difficulties and even hazards to a boater. An unassisted boater may even find it impossible to moor his boat. Reaching over the side of the boat to a buoy may be dangerous, especially in rough waters (a time when the buoy anchor line is likely to be in tension such that the buoy cannot be lifted).
Attempts have been made at procedures for mooring a boat to a buoy utilizing the additional reach provided by a standard boat hook. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,536,701 to Buckingham, discloses a mooring device which is provided with a swivel ring and a hook coupled to a boat and configured to engage the ring so that the free end of the hook extends into the ring. This device may be difficult to use in many instances. For example, a swivel ring that is not situated in a rigid upright position or rough waters can make engagement of the hook with the ring difficult. Engagement of the hook, thus, necessarily involves a person to properly position the ring relative to the hook.
The limitations of the above-described mooring device, and particularly, necessity of bringing the hook over the ring in a manual manner is typical of the current designs. The present invention was developed to effectively address the problem of easy, safe moorage of a boat to a buoy, by one unassisted person.